Jennifer Lawrence Reveals the Real Story Behind Those Flip-Flops at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival (Exclusive)

ET spoke to Lawrence ahead of the release of her new movie, 'No Hard Feelings,' out June 23.

A casual queen!

After wearing flip-flops on the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival last month, Jennifer Lawrence is setting the record straight about the fashion statement that had the internet abuzz.

"Ok, thank you for bringing this up. I would really like to straighten this out," Lawrence told ET's Nischelle Turner while promoting her new film, No Hard Feelings alongside co-star, Andrew Barth Feldman. "I was not making a political statement, not that I wouldn’t. I had no idea until it like, came out that there was a whole controversy with people wearing flats, or like, walking down the red carpet barefoot. I had no clue. My shoes were a size too big."

Lawrence was attending a screening of the film Bread and Roses, a new documentary she produced, alongside the film's director, Sahra Mani and fellow producer Justine Ciarrocchi, when the incident occurred, pairing her flip-flops with a stunning Christian Dior couture cherry red gown.

The 32-year-old actress, who is no stranger to taking a tumble on a red carpet continued, "And I wore heels going up, but then I forgot to take a picture with my production team, Excellent Cadaver. So, we had to take an Excellent Cadaver picture, and I knew I would eat sh*t if I went down in the shoes that were a size too big. I put on the flip-flops, and then everybody's like, 'What a statement! Wow!'"

Lawrence added, "I'm all for making a statement. I just would want it to be on purpose."

Stephane Cardinale - Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images
Stephane Cardinale - Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images

Lawrence kept things equally light-hearted in her new, raunchy comedy, which sees the Oscar-winner as Maddie, a reckless 20-something who answers a Craigslist ad placed by a pair of concerned parents, played by Laura Benanti and Matthew Broderick. They want Maddie to "date" their son, Percy (Feldman), a socially awkward 19-year-old who has so far expressed no interest in girls, parties or other teenage exploits.

As for what drew her to the film, Lawrence said being able to "push the envelope" in terms of the film's hilariously inappropriate moments was part of it.

"I mean, I think it is as funny as it is because it's really pushing the envelope, and really inappropriate and raunchy. I've known Gene for years, and he's the funniest person I've ever met in my life. So, when I read it, I mean, I was dying. And when you're on set, making something like this, you're like, it's hilarious," she explained.

The aftermath is another story, she joked, "the closer you're getting to like, the line and the more you're kind of dancing with the line -- but of course, after you wrap something like that, you're like, 'Are we gonna be okay?'"

The film also sees both Lawrence and Feldman get down to their birthday suits, something the veteran actress didn't consider a "big deal."

"I never thought the nudity was a big deal," Lawrence said, to which Feldman agreed, "The two of us were still able to like make light of it and like, joke around about what a kind of ridiculous situation that we were in. But it's just so funny, and much like all the comedy in the movie, it never feels gratuitous. It always feels like it's there for a reason. And these characters have actually been led to these moments. And so there was never a second-guessing game."

No Hard Feelings hits theaters June 23.

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